Midnight Reflections
by Articulated
Summary: Neji has always been a cold mystery, especially to one boy who just can't seem to wrap his intelligent mind around what the other shinobi is really all about.


**Disclaimer; I own nothing. **

_Chapter One; Neji Hyuga. _

**One-Shot Story - This has been stuck in my head for a while, circling and slowly driving me crazy. There isn't really that much to it in actuality. But I like the results of it, oddly enough. I had thought about adding more to it. But it almost feels like adding more takes away from what the story really stands for. I'm not sure, for now until I'm otherwise moved to create more, it'll stay as a one-shot. Hope you enjoy, leave a review. **

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He was always so blank. Collected and confident in every movement he made. Eyes keen and focused, a straight lined mouth that rarely even quirked with emotion. Not one twitch to betray a single thought that I knew had to flash through his mind. A brilliant mind. A genius it's been said, since he was young. The strongest of his clan's blood throwing through veins beneath that thin porcelain skin. He is an enigma. Foreign, and such a reserved person. I don't see a kid when I look at him, and I wonder what he has hidden so deep beneath those all seeing eyes. Pale eyes, just like his skin. But they did not look as soft, as his skin did.

He never seemed ruffled or perturbed by anything. Even the childish antics of his teammate and sensei didn't seem to cause much emotion at all to flicker into those eyes. Sometimes I wondered what he saw when he looked at the word. Colors possibly - Or was everything really black and white in the world of Neji Hyuga. I wouldn't know the answer, I'm not sure that anyone could even get the answer. He was quite picky with what he answered, and how he answered any and all questions directed towards him. Smart kid, very smart kid.

A person like that though, has so much further to fall when they crack and break into pieces. And they will crack and break into pieces, no one can hold that tightly to such a cold outlook on life. No one can remain that unattached to everything around them, all the people that take up the same space as they do. Even as a shinobi, you are taught to rely on yourself, your abilities and your senses – But also, to rely on your comrades, and teamwork. There are times that you cannot take on the world alone, and Neji was the type of kid to attempt to conquer the world all alone, with no one standing in his corner. Just like he has been doing all his life.

Kid with that kind of family dynamic is bound to have authority issues. Deep hidden anger, possibly guilt slowly eating away at him from the inside out. Yet, I was oddly intrigued. Sort of like pulling away layer after layer of something, working your way to what treasure must lay at the center. Everything covered and hidden away, must contain a center of magnificent proportion. I figured that Neji Hyuga had that sort of center. He was hiding a lot behind those talented eyes of his. He possessed a strength that I wasn't sure half the grown Jonin in our village had. Because he still had so much to prove, not to anyone but himself. The more he progressed the harder he's pushed himself, climbing and reaching towards new heights. He has the talent, the power, the strength, the skill – But I've heard whispers that he doesn't have the temperance or discipline. His extent of emotional lack is seen as a sort of drawback to all that pent up aggressive talent, bursting at the seams. He keeps himself cool and closed off, but he doesn't think about the people around him as people.

At least, he hadn't. You could see the change in him though. His eyes would soften slightly when he crossed paths with his cousin, Hinata. Whereas before he'd looked down upon the weaker girl, his eyes would soften with affection and then harden with pride. She had proven herself to Neji, in a way that no one else but them could understand. She'd proven herself to him, by proving herself to her ownself. Finding pride in one's own ability allowed others to see all that potential in you. Neji has also begun to worry and fear for the people around him, seeing them possibly for the first time as something more than his peers, comrades, or leaders. He had even sacrificed himself during many missions, but one missions was the most prominent in my mind currently. The attempt to rescue Sasuke Uchiha, Neji had been one of a few to sacrifice himself to retrieve Sasuke. Though they weren't close, they weren't friends, and probably had barely even acknowledged each other ; that hadn't mattered.

He was one person I felt this burning need to know, to understand. Just what the hell made the damn kid tick. Where did that cold aloofness come from, and why had he suddenly begun to change after being defeating in a battle. The once too proud Hyuga, now understood the importance to humbleness. It was perplexing, and confusing. And even my overly intelligent brain couldn't analyze, or wrap itself around just what puzzle pieces where holding Neji together. I barely even knew what a few parts of that puzzle where. Bits and pieces that just never seemed to add up correctly. And why was that?

"What a drag," I whispered into the silence and really it was, oddly more troublesome than anything else I'd encountered so far. And what made it all worse, was that I had no clue how to go about rectifying how little I knew about him. We went to academy together. We had taken the Chunin exams together. We'd gone on the Sasuke recovery mission together. We'd had missions since then together. Yet, I still couldn't say I'd ever had a conversation with him. One would think we'd have more im common than we seemed to. Each geniuses in our own right, looked at differently by the world that surrounded us. But, there were vast differences that seperated us by great lengths and I was having trouble figuring out how to move across that distance. I really had better things to be doing with my time, then lazying around thinking about some guy.

Though, what else is more important than thinking really? In my opinion, nothing. If we didn't have our brains, the ability to think and make choices – we would have nothing at all in this life or any. What we held inside our minds; memories, abilities, ideas, opinions, captured pictures in time, etc. It was more important than any side-kick, left jab, or any sort of jutsu available for us to learn and perfect. Because without our minds, none of those would even be possible. Functioning relied on our minds ability to process everything. We just had to take those processes; receiving and sending every single moment to the rest of our body, recreating from our minds what we want our body to do. And most of those things happen in split seconds. But, the luxury of having the time to think something out, endless hours to mull over something in my mind, was truly a gift in itself.

I rolled my eyes, pushing myself off the hard ground lazily. I was starting to bore even my ownself, I really needed a life. Maybe pick up some kind of hobby. Tilting my head back towards the darkened sky, I allowed myself a moment to remember and pay my respects to a man would taken me under his wing and had since then always been there for me; _I do miss you Asuma._ In the stars where you belong. Running my hand over the monument, I sighed once before shoving my hands in my pockets and disappearing into the silence of the night. How **troublesome. **


End file.
